Essentializing the Binary Self: Individualism and Collectivism in Cultural Neuroscience
Within the emerging field of Cultural Neurosciences (CN) one branch of research focuses on the neural underpinnings of "individualistic/Western" versus "collectivistic/Eastern" self-views. These studies uncritically adopt essentialist assumptions from classic cros...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00289/full |
| _version_ | 1828373331766673408 |
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| author | Marina eMartinez Mateo Maurice eCabanis Julian eStenmanns Sören eKrach |
| author_facet | Marina eMartinez Mateo Maurice eCabanis Julian eStenmanns Sören eKrach |
| author_sort | Marina eMartinez Mateo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Within the emerging field of Cultural Neurosciences (CN) one branch of research focuses on the neural underpinnings of "individualistic/Western" versus "collectivistic/Eastern" self-views. These studies uncritically adopt essentialist assumptions from classic cross-cultural research, mainly following the tradition of Markus & Kitayama (1991), into the domain of functional neuroimaging. In this comment we analyze recent publications and conference proceedings of the 18th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (2012) and problematize the essentialist and simplistic understanding of "culture" in these studies. Further, we argue against the binary structure of the drawn "cultural" comparisons and their underlying Eurocentrism. Finally we scrutinize whether valuations within the constructed binarities bear the risk of constructing and reproducing a postcolonial, orientalist argumentation pattern. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:17:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d4285dbb57254499bea56758a0d54b8f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:17:17Z |
| publishDate | 2013-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-d4285dbb57254499bea56758a0d54b8f2022-12-22T02:06:16ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612013-06-01710.3389/fnhum.2013.0028950772Essentializing the Binary Self: Individualism and Collectivism in Cultural NeuroscienceMarina eMartinez Mateo0Maurice eCabanis1Julian eStenmanns2Sören eKrach3Goethe-University FrankfurtPhilipps-University MarburgGoethe-University Frankfurt am MainPhilipps-University MarburgWithin the emerging field of Cultural Neurosciences (CN) one branch of research focuses on the neural underpinnings of "individualistic/Western" versus "collectivistic/Eastern" self-views. These studies uncritically adopt essentialist assumptions from classic cross-cultural research, mainly following the tradition of Markus & Kitayama (1991), into the domain of functional neuroimaging. In this comment we analyze recent publications and conference proceedings of the 18th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (2012) and problematize the essentialist and simplistic understanding of "culture" in these studies. Further, we argue against the binary structure of the drawn "cultural" comparisons and their underlying Eurocentrism. Finally we scrutinize whether valuations within the constructed binarities bear the risk of constructing and reproducing a postcolonial, orientalist argumentation pattern.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00289/fullfMRIcultural neuroscienceindividualismcollectivismessentialismbinarity |
| spellingShingle | Marina eMartinez Mateo Maurice eCabanis Julian eStenmanns Sören eKrach Essentializing the Binary Self: Individualism and Collectivism in Cultural Neuroscience Frontiers in Human Neuroscience fMRI cultural neuroscience individualism collectivism essentialism binarity |
| title | Essentializing the Binary Self: Individualism and Collectivism in Cultural Neuroscience |
| title_full | Essentializing the Binary Self: Individualism and Collectivism in Cultural Neuroscience |
| title_fullStr | Essentializing the Binary Self: Individualism and Collectivism in Cultural Neuroscience |
| title_full_unstemmed | Essentializing the Binary Self: Individualism and Collectivism in Cultural Neuroscience |
| title_short | Essentializing the Binary Self: Individualism and Collectivism in Cultural Neuroscience |
| title_sort | essentializing the binary self individualism and collectivism in cultural neuroscience |
| topic | fMRI cultural neuroscience individualism collectivism essentialism binarity |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00289/full |
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